LONDON: The Edinburgh Festival, the biggest arts festival of its kind in the world, got under way in the Scotland capital on Sunday with a concert that included Hector Berlionz's To Deum, under the direction of Christoph von Dohnanyi.
The festival, which runs until August 31 this year, includes as its high points Peter Stein’s staging of Wagner’s Parsifal, with Claudio Abbado directing the Gustav Mahler youth orchestra. The concert programme includes American pianist Richard Goode, bass baritone Thomas Quasthoff and violinist Christian Tetzlaff. New to the programmes this year will be 25 late evening classical music concerts.
Earlier this month, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the largest show-case in the world for performance art, officially got under way with theatre, dance, poetry and music presentations.
Many of the fringe artists, who can enter the fringe festival upon payment of a small fee, were inspired this year by the event of September 11.
Thousands of people flock to Edinburgh from around the world during the festival, which is over 50 years old. It aims to promote and encourage arts and to reflect international culture. It consists of various dance, music, opera, and theatre presentation taking place across the city during the three-week run.Who will perform in the concert on Sunday?
| A．Hector Berlionz | B．Christoph von Dohnanyi |
| C．Claudio Abbado | D．Christian Tetzlaff |
When did the Edinburgh Festival begin?
| A．August 10. | B．August 15. |
| C．August 31. | D．September 11. |
What did the Edinburgh Festival never have before?
| A．Youth orchestra’s performances. |
| B．Poetry and music presentations. |
| C．Late evening classical music concerts. |
| D．Performances of American pianists and violinists. |
Which of the following statements about the Edinburgh Festival is true?
| A．It is the only festival of its kind in the world. |
| B．The artists who want to take part in the festival have to pay a small amount of money. |
| C．People who attend the festival are all from Scotland. |
| D．It is actually a dance festival. |
I don’t ever want to talk about being a woman scientist again. There was a time in my life when people asked constantly for stories about what it’s like to work in a field dominated by men. I was never very good at telling those stories because truthfully I never found them interesting. What I do find interesting is the origin of the universe, the shape of space-lime and the nature of black holes.
At 19, when I began studying astrophysics, it didn’t bother me in the least to be the only woman in the classroom. But while earning my Ph.D. at MIT and then as a post-doctor doing space research, the issue started to bother me. My every achievement-jobs, research papers, awards-was viewed through the lens of gender(性别) politics. So were my failures. Sometimes, when I was pushed into an argument on left brain versus right brain, or nature versus nurture(培育), I would instantly fight fiercely on my behalf and all womankind.
Today I research and teach at Barnard, a women’s college in New York City. Recently, someone asked me how many of the 45 students in my class were women. You cannot imagine my satisfaction at being able to answer, 45. I know some of my students worry how they will manage their scientific research and a desire for children. And I don’t dismiss those concerns. Still, I don’t tell them “war” stories. Instead, I have given them this: the visual of their physics professor heavily pregnant doing physics experiments. And in turn they have given me the image of 45 women driven by a love of science. And that’s a sight worth talking about.
1. Why doesn’t the author want to talk about being a woman scientist again?
A. She feels unhappy working in male-dominated fields.
B. She is fed up with the issue of gender discrimination
C. She is not good at telling stories of the kind
D. She finds space research more important
2. Form Para 3, we can infer that people would attribute (归结于) the author’s failures to___
A. the very fact that she is a woman
B. her involvement in gender politics
C. her over-confidence as a female astrophysicist
D. the burden she bears in a male-dominated society
3. How does the author feel when talking about her class?
A. worried B. satisfied C. excited D. concerned
4. What does the image the author presents to her students suggest?
A. Women students needn’t have the concerns of the generation
B. women have more barriers on their way to academic success
C. Women can balance a career in science and having a family
D. Women now have fewer problems in pursuing a science career
The regular use of text messages and e-mails can lower the IQ more than twice as much as smoking marijuana（大麻）. That is the claim of psychologists who have found that tapping away on a mobile phone or computer keypad or checking them for electronic messages temporarily knocks up to ten points off the user’s IQ.
This rate of decline in intelligence compares unfavorably with the four-point drop in IQ associated with smoking marijuana, according to British researchers, who have labeled（把……称为）the fleeting phenomenon of enhanced stupidity as “infomania”.
The noticeable drop in IQ is believed to be the result of the constant distraction of “always on” technology when employees should be concentrating on what they are paid to do. Infomania means that they lose concentration as their minds remain fixed in an almost permanent state of readiness to react to technology instead of focusing on the tasks in hand.
The brain also finds it hard to deal with keeping lots of tasks in motion at once, reducing its overall effectiveness. While modern technology can have huge benefits, excessive(过度的)use can be damaging not only to a person’s mind, but to his or her social life.
Eighty volunteers took part in clinical trials on IQ damage and 1,100 adults were interviewed.
More than six in ten people polled admitted that they were addicted to checking their e-mail and text messages so that they examined work-related ones even when at home or on holiday. Half said that they always responded immediately to an e-mail and one in five would interrupt a meeting to do so.
Furthermore, infomania is having a negative effect on work colleagues, increasing stress and disagreeing feelings. Nine out of ten polled thought that colleagues who answered e-mails or messages during a face-to-face meeting were extremely rude. Yet one in three Britons believed that it was not only acceptable, but actually diligent and efficient to do so.
67. What does the underlined part mean?
A.A person’s IQ drops ten points if he or she always checks electronic messages.
B. The person who has a higher IQ enjoys checking electronic messages.
C. The person who has a lower IQ enjoys checking electronic messages.
D. A person’s IQ is ten points higher if he or she always checks electronic messages.
68. What happens to people with infomania?
A. People with infomania can only concentrate on their tasks in hand.
B. people with infomania are addicted to smoking marijuana.
C. People with infomania can’t respond to technology immediately.
D. People with infomania can’t concentrate on their tasks in hand.
69. From the passage, we can learn that ______.
A. about 550 interviewees responded to an e-mail immediately
B. about 670 interviewees responded to an e-mail immediately
C. about 50 taking part in clinical trials on IQ were addicted to checking e-mails
D. about 16 taking part in clinical trials on IQ refused to answer e-mails immediately
70. What is the main idea of this passage?
A. The regular use of text messages and e-mails can be compared to smoking marijuana.
B. Modern technology can damage a person’s mind.
C. The regular use of text messages and e-mails can harm your IQ.
D. Electronic messages have side effects on the user’s life.
| AwimAway Thailand & Cambodia |
||||||||
| Tour Reference |
109359 |
|||||||
| Seasons |
January - December |
|||||||
| Tour Length |
9 days |
|||||||
| Destinations |
Cambodia, Thailand |
|||||||
| Activities |
Cultural Exploration |
|||||||
| Tour Operator |
AwimAway |
|||||||
| Start Price |
£1449.00  |
|||||||
| * Price per person (Half price for U-15s, Free for U-7s) * Land cost only - International airfare not included. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
Brief Overview:
Thailand is a rush for your senses: a bustling, exotic, and vivid culture that never ceases to amaze visitors. On this cultural tour, you’ll visit Thailand’s gilded temples, one more gorgeous than the next, in the cities of Bangkok, Ayutthaya, and Chiang Mai. Other highlights include a cruise through Bangkok’s canals, a visit to a rural hill tribe village, riding elephants through the jungle and exciting shopping opportunities in Chiang Mai’s famous night bazaar.
Continue to Cambodia, where you’ll visit the bustling capital of Phnom Penh. Tour the Royal Palace with its dazzling Silver Pagoda. Then it’s on to Angkor Wat, where you have two days to explore the spectacular carved stone temples of this World Heritage site.
Features of this trip:
Exclusive tour, guided privately by a multilingual guide throughout the trip.
Customize your own itinerary（路线）to create a holiday of your dream.
Designed for 4 to 5 star luxury accommodation and services. Hotels can be changed to lower budget.
Depart and return whenever you choose – shorten or lengthen the tour to suit your wishes.
Outstanding value, costing you 25-30% less than similar guided tours of the same flexibility and quality.
Group discounts are available. Call 020 7430 1766
NOTE: Prices shown are effective as of date of publication of web page, and are subject to changes due to currency fluctuations, changes in availability, seasonal increases or variations in local costing at the time of booking. 
63. This ad is most probably made for ______.
A. a private guide B. a travel agency C. a country D. a hotel
64. In which of the following cities can a visitor shop in a night bazaar?
A. Bangkok. B. Phnom Penh. C. Chiang Mai. D. Ayutthaya.
65. Start prices are influenced by the following EXCEPT _______.
A. the local living conditions B. currency fluctuations
C. changes in availability D. variations in local costing
66. Which of the following statements is true?
A. Pity this cultural tour is limited to only 10 days.
B. Start prices cover all the fees including accommodation, services and flight.
C. Everyone wanting a discount may call 020 7430 1766.
D. This tour is said to be fairly easy and comfortable.
Do you know what it means when somebody tells you that he had “a catch-22 experience”?
The phrase “catch-22” comes from a book of the same title by the American writer Joseph Heller published in 1961. Catch-22 is a book of black humor. The author uses silly and even surreal(超现实的)events. It has a non-linear narrative structure(非线性的叙述结构)in which events follow the theme rather than the timing, to give us a very strange picture full of contradictions(矛盾).
The story takes places in a bomber base in Italy during World War II. The main character, Captain Yossarian wants to leave the war. Unfortunately, every time he completes the number of tasks to be sent home, the number is raised and he is forced to continue fighting. It seems hopeless for him to go home under the very strange rule in this Air Force-catch-22: only when a soldier goes crazy can he be allowed to go home. But he has to go to the hospital to show the doctors that he is crazy. However, if he tells them he is crazy but is obvious healthy, he cannot go home. In short, catch-22 is“heads I win, tails I lose. If you can you can’t; and if you can’t, you can.”Whenever you try to behave correctly in a crazy world. There’s a catch(潜在的困难).
During the Vietnam War, the phrase“catch-22”became a popular term for being caught in a lose-win circular dilemma and is now commonly used. The Oxford English Dictionary explains catch-22 as“a set of circumstances in which one requirement, etc, is dependent upon another, which is in turn dependent upon the first.”
60. Which of the following statements is right?
A. Catch-22 is one of Heller’s experiences during World War II.
B. Catch-22 is one of Yossarian’s experiences during the Vietnam War.
C. The events in catch-22 follow the theme.
D. The events in catch-22 follow the timing.
61. Why did Captain Yossarian fail to leave the war?
A. He wasn’t so anxious to leave the war.
B. He didn’t finish his tasks.
C. He was put into a catch-22 situation.
D. He wasn’t mad enough to be sent home.
62. The phrase“catch-22”came into being_____________.
A. in World War II B. in the Vietnam War C. in the 1950s D. in the 1960s
Recreational pursuits() can be a part of everyday life, 365 days a year in Vancouver. We provide and maintain playgrounds, sports fields, ice rinks, fitness centers, indoor and outdoor pools, beaches, tennis courts, golf courses, skateboard parks and numerous other ways for any and all to participate. Knowledgeable staff work hard to provide leisure() activities suited to people of every age, culture and ability.
Recreation also means our 23 community() centers, serving all ages and supporting awide range of recreational, social and cultural pursuits. Programs include aerobics arts and many more. Community centers are cooperatively operated with people living nearby, making for good partnerships between city government and its residents.
| Community Arts and Culture Benefits of Recreation Community Centres Recreation Programs Recreation for All Access Services Adapted Programs Childcare Day Camps Get out! Youth Initiative Leisure Access Card program LAC) Seniors Programs and Services Youth Activities and Services Forms and Schedules Application Forms for Picnics and Events Leisure Guide 2008 |
Activities Basketball Beaches Fitness Centre Football Fields Get up & Go! Golf/pitch & Putt Horseshoes Pitches Ice Rinks Lacrosse Lawn Bowling Picnic Sites Playgrounds Playing Fields Racquet/Squash Courts Rugby Fields Swimming Pools Tennis Courts Volleyball Wading Pools & Water/Spray |
1. This advertisement is intended for ____.
A. people living in nearby cities B. 23 community centers
C. residents of Vancouver D. the government of Vancouver
2. From Leisure Guide 2008, you may probably find information about ____.
A. arts and culture B. recreation programs
C. plans and timetable of different activities D. partnerships between city government and its residents
3. You will probably click _____ to help your grandparents find some leisure activities.
A. Seniors Programs and Services B. Football Fields
C. Rugby Fields D. Adapted Programs
粤公网安备 44130202000953号